Verona

Caffè Verona®, as we now know it, was first developed as a restaurant coffee. It was served at a now-defunct Seattle restaurant, Jake O’Shaughnessy’s, where it was called Jake’s Blend.

The coffee was so popular (and tasty) that eventually, it became a standard coffee in our lineup and we named it Caffè Verona® – though sometimes it was also called 80/20 Blend because the original recipe was 80 percent Yukon Blend® and 20 percent Italian Roast.

When I was hired as a barista in 1990, this was one of the first coffees I came to love. Some years ago I wrote a poem about Caffè Verona® for an internal company publication. Below is an updated version of that poem that honors my long-standing appreciation of this bold coffee.